Australia Day
by thaiflower
Summary: One way of celebrating Australia Day. One Shot. Get some pork on your fork!


**Australia Day Special One Shot! This fits in between **_**A Dream Come True **_**and **_**Let The Nightmare Begin**_**. And because my family is being lazy today and lounging around the house instead of going out and doing something, I am writing this and I can hear the neighbours play a game of backyard cricket, and they are pretty loud, but I guess we all are when we play. **

Today is one of my favourite days of the year, no it's not my birthday or Christmas, it's Australia day. January 26 is the one day a year where we get to celebrate us individually and us as a multi-cultural nation.

Alice had gone all out, as usual, to have us the best Australia Day celebration that we had had to date. I would have gone home but I didn't want to drive all the way out there and back, so we are all staying here, including the boys, who were currently cleaning the barbeque so they use it later. Alice, Rose and myself were inflating the blow up pool that we got for today and setting up the cricket pitch. The pool was there for when we got hot, it was never a case of if it got hot but when it got hot, one of the perks of living on the driest inhabited continent in the world. It was a tradition of ours to play a game of cricket on Australia Day, today and Christmas Day are the only times you will see me play.

Something that Alice made us all do today was to dress up, not formally or anything, because that's not very Australian, but in singlets, shorts and thongs which were either green and gold or were covered in the flag. My clothes were covered in the flag because it was blue and it's Edward's favourite colour on me and I had blue and white war paint and temporary tattoos of the flag. Emmett had found the flag that Alice bought and tied it around his neck like a superhero, so today he wanted us to call him, Aussie Man, which to me didn't really make much sense since he's American, but hey, whatever floats his boat.

I had finished doing my bit outside and was sent inside to make some food. I made a pile of Vegemite sangers, chips and dip, chips, lollies and some other stuff that I found, got the snags out of the fridge along with the kangaroo meat and lamb chops. It wouldn't be Australia Day without lamb chops. I put the XXXX and some soft drinks in the esky and I would get Emmett to take it outside later.

I took the plate of food outside and set it on the table that Alice had decked out with flags and crap, it looked awesome.

"AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE!" I randomly called out.

"OI! OI! OI!" was the reply I got from three people.

"WHAT!" was the other response I got. I could hear Jasper explaining it to Emmett and Edward. I don't really know what it means myself but it's in the Aussie spirit and that's all that matters.

"Emmett could you go grab the esky for me? I can't carry it?" I asked him as he came into my sight.

"Grab the what?"

"The esky."

"What's an esky?"

"It's something that we keep things in to keep cold." I explained.

"You mean like a fridge."

"No well yes but you don't plug it in and it's not as big, it's an esky. Just go get it, it's in the kitchen." He walked inside to get it and came out a few minutes later carrying the big, blue esky.

"What's in here?"

"Beer." Rose said, she came over and sat on it. "It also makes an extra seat at parties."

"Where's the meat?" Jasper asked.

"On the bench in the kitchen." As he brushed past me I whispered to him. "Don't tell them there's kangaroo." He nodded. Kangaroo was good and I wanted to see the look on their faces once we told them what it was.

While the boys were being boys around the barbeque with it's main chef and two backseat chef's, us girls were sitting around talking. I left Alice and Rose for a minute and took over a bottle of beer for Jasper. As I got closer they were reaching out wanting the bottle in my hand.

"It's not for you." I said, "It's for the barbeque." And handed the bottle to Jasper and he opened it and poured it on the barbeque. It's like an unwritten rule, you have to put beer on the barbeque when you cook.

Edward was sitting on the plastic chair that he took over with him, so I went and sat on him.

"Happy Australia Day." He said in my ear.

"Happy Australia Day." I said back. Emmett heard me because he answered me and then Jasper answered him. I laughed at them. As I looked him over I noticed that he was all decked out too, but in green and gold. Alice had even got to his lips which were covered in zinc. I kissed them knowing that my lips would look like his.

I stayed with Edward as Jasper cooked and Emmett annoyed him. Eventually Alice and Rose joined us bringing gifts, well drinks. We all took one and started drinking.

"Tucker time!" Jasper called out.

"Huh?" Edward said.

"Food's ready." I got up and grabbed me and Edward a plate. I put a bit of everything on his plate and mine. In the end we had plates of sausages, chops, kangaroo, coleslaw, pasta salad, beetroot and corn. I had set out a bowl of mangoes before so that was there too.

We sat anywhere we could find a seat and tucked in.

I finished but still had about half the food still on my plate. I wasn't a big eater and today was no exception, though I tried to keep eating. I looked over and saw that Emmett's plate was clean for the second time and Edward had just finished eating.

"That was good! What was that other bit of meat?" Emmett said, looking around at everyone looking for an answer.

"Did you that we are the only country to eat our own coat of arms?" Alice said.

"What does that have to do with anything..." we all gave Emmett a look. "You mean I just ate your coat of arms. What is on your coat of arms anyway?"

"A Kangaroo and an Emu." Rose said.

"You just, _we_ just ate Kangaroo." I said. The look on his face didn't change, he was unscathed by it, Edward on the other hand looked mortified.

"It's not that big a deal. Australian's have been eating Kangaroo for centuries, it's just more readily available now since we have too many Kangaroo's than the land can look after." Everyone was silent, not knowing what to say next.

"How about we play a game of cricket?" Alice said.

"Good idea, Alice. Let's go." Jasper said. While I went inside and dig out the cricket bat and ball, the other's started explaining the game and rules to Emmett and Edward.

As I walked outside, Jasper was telling everyone the rules we were going to be playing by.

"Okay, six and out then fetch it, one bounce one hand, can't get out on first ball and no LBW since we don't have an umpire." He said finishing the standard rules of backyard cricket. The girl's had set up the standard stumps by using a wheelie bin and had moved the esky for the stump at the bowler's end.

"Okay." I said handing the bat and balls over to Jasper. It was also standard to have more than one ball available.

"Emmett, Alice and Rose on one team and me, Edward and Bella on the other. Who's batting first?"

"We'll go first." I said. I grabbed the bat while Alice went and stood at the bowler's end and Edward sat offside. Jasper bowled first, I hit it and Emmett caught it, and according to the rules of backyard cricket I wasn't out. Jasper bowled again and I missed it. We played for ages, we ran a few times, Alice was doing pretty good though she did get out after she hit the ball out of the yard, instigating the six and out then fetch it rule.

Edward came into play while Alice went to find the ball. Jasper bowled and Edward hit it out of the yard but it was his first ball so he was still in. Edward had to go find the ball though holding the game up for a few minutes till he found the ball.

He came back and the game continued. Alice came back in the yard not long after Edward and she went and sat down in the shade but not before grabbing a drink out of our second set of stumps.

We continued play until I was out when Rose caught the ball and we swapped sides. I don't know what the score was and I don't know if anyone was keeping track.

Emmett and Jasper batted first. Alice caught Jasper out and Emmett hit the ball out of the yard.

"We won!" Alice said.

"How do you know, no one was keeping score." Jasper said.

"I was and we won. We were all out for thirty and you were all out for twenty nine." Alice had a big grin on her face. Edward had come up behind me and put a kiss on the top of my head. I grabbed a couple of beers from the esky and gave one to Edward then I jumped in the pool after becoming hot, bothered and sweaty from standing out in the hot Queensland sun. The water was nice and cool, it was so good. Everyone jumped in after me, Edward sat next to me pulling me into his lap.

"Happy Australia Day everyone! Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!" Edward said.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" We finished.

And that was how we spent Australia Day, in each others company being the epitome of an Australian.

**HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY EVERYONE! I WOULD HAVE HAD THIS UP EARLIER TODAY BUT I WAS BEING LAZY. **

**And can I just say, for all those who think we are, we aren't a racist country. We are a multi-cultural country accepting people of all races. Here it is safe for anyone to walk down the street without the threat of being bombed or being shot by randoms or anything and I love that, I love a lot of things about living in Australia and of the country itself. The people are amazing and I don't think that there is a better place to live. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone is allowed their own opinion and that's just mine. And for those who think we are racist, we are definitely not, we are just laid back and we know how to make fun of ourselves and if you're a true Australian than you know that. I just find it annoying that we can't be us without being judged from other countries. If KFC wants to run a chicken add about the Windies then let them, no one in Australia found that offensive and I find it offensive that other people found it offensive. We have fun, that's just who we are and if you don't like it then don't pay attention to us and live in your uptight world. **

**AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIE! **


End file.
